The Musician
by lizzle333
Summary: One day when Elizabeta, a fiery teenager, tries to save a kid from being pummeled by the neighborhood bully, Arthur, she has no idea of what is to come. Just exactly who is this kid and what will he mean to her?


I messily tied my long brown hair up into a pony tail before hoisting my backpack on my shoulder and slamming my locker shut. The school halls were nearly empty now, minus the few students who stuck around after school. If I had it my way, I wouldn't be here. I would be enjoying my Friday afternoon by playing street hockey or hanging out with the Vargas brothers, my best friends. Instead, I'm stuck in this hell hole because that British asshole Arthur picked on Lovino, the elder of the Vargas brothers. I, of course, jump in and beat the crap out of the looser, but got caught in the process. I really should tone it down a notch, but that piece of shit has constantly been picking fights with my friends, and let's just say that I'm very protective.

I quickly walked out of the school and in the direction of where my car was parked. I noticed a figure leaning against the green Volkswagen Bug, one that Feliciano, the other Vargas brother, had told me was the perfect car for me. I prepared myself for an other fight, but when I got closer I recognized the tall, lean figure as Lovino. I relaxed as I approached him.

"Hey. What are you doing? It's late." I said.

"I know it's late. I was waiting on you." He replied.

"Aw! Thanks Lovi!"

The Italian just rolled his amber eyes as I unlocked my car.

"No Feli?" I asked.

"He went home at the usual time."

"I see. Need a ride?"

"Per favor."

Lovino slid into the passenger seat as I started the engine. We rode in silence for a few minuets, nothing making a sound but the soft hum of the engine and the static from the radio. It was a little uncomfortable considering Lovino and I always chatted about something when we were together. I finally said "So, how's Antonio?" Antonio is Lovino's boyfriend and probably the only one who can tolerate Lovino for very long periods of time, minus his brother and I.

"He's fine."

The car fell silent for a couple more minuets before Lovino said "Elizabeta, you have to stop jumping into my fights."

"I know. I know. I jus can't help it. When I see that bastard being picking on you, I get kind of fired up. Same goes for Feli."

"Feliciano is a different story. He can't fight for himself. However, I can. You even helped 'train' me. You know I can take care of myself. Just leave me alone!"

That last sentence stung. Yeah, what he was saying was true, but it still hurt when your actions to protect your friend are thrown out the window.

I saw Lovino slump back in the seat and curse under his breath.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Lovino said as I pulled into his driveway.

"Whatever. I need to talk to Feliciano." I replied, getting out of the car.

Lovino walked towards his front door, but I didn't. I could hear faint sounds of people beating another, the soft cries for help just barely audible. Good thing I have the best hearing in the eleventh grade. I turned around and saw that my ears had not betrayed me. That asshole Arthur had gathered up a posse of his own. They were mostly people I didn't know, probably underclassmen looking to get in with the "cool" kids. They were beating on this kid that was pretty slender, no muscle what so ever. He has brown hair, glasses, and a mole right beside his mouth. He was being punched, kicked, and spat on. I could feel my anger rising and before I even considered thinking, I tore off in the direction of the fight.

"Look who it is." Arthur said when I got there. He had a purple bruise on his left jaw bone from when I had knocked him out today.

"Come on Arthur. Don't be an asshole." I replied, rolling up my sleeves.

"You're not laying a hand on me." Arthur said as two of his goons cracked their knuckles. I smiled before jumping in the air, roundhouse kicking the one on the left unconscious. When I landed, the other came at me. His movements were slow due to his massive size and easily dodged. Without hesitating I took my first chance to knee him in the groin and knock him out with a nicely placed punch to the temple. The kids beating up on the brunette quickly scattered while I was dusting off my hands. I kicked Arthur to the ground and place my foot on his face.

"You're right, I won't lay a hand on you, but you never said anything about feet." I said as I gave him a hard kick to the ribs and then the groin. Now that Arthur was lying on the ground like a pussy, I turned towards the kid that was being beat up. He stared at me with wide violet eyes as I approached him. I put out my hand to help him up, but instead of taking it, he got up and ran away as fast as he could. Geez, that shrimp could run.

"Elizabeta! Watch out!" I heard a voice say.

I turned to find Lovino tackling Arthur who had somehow acquired a lead pipe. The pipe was knocked out of Arthur's hands and clattered to the curb. Lovino had pinned Arthur down.

"Look here shit face. If you ever cross me or my friends again, I can assure you that the last thing you will ever see is my face." Lovino snarled, making Arthur visibly swallow. Arthur nodded and Lovino got up. Arthur muttered some lame ass insults and walked away with a few more bruises to add to his "collection."

"Whoa, Lovi where did you learn to be so threatening?" I teased.

"Picked up a few tips here and there from you." He replied.

"Thanks. Who knows what Arthur would have done." I said.

"No problem. Just, try to stay out of trouble from now on." Lovino said with a smile. I smiled too as we made our way back to his house. I unlocked my car and hoped in.

"See ya Elizabeta." Lovino said.

"See ya!" I replied before pulling out of the drive way and driving home. I was probably going to get a lecture from my parents now, and that never ended up well. I took a deep breath as I mentally prepared myself for the punishment I was going to receive.

…

"Oh, that sucks." Lovino said as he bit into his turkey sandwich.

"I know. It's worse than having no car privileges!" I exclaimed.

My parents had decided that as my punishment I would be banned from playing street hockey for a week. They don't quite understand that street hockey is my life and they just took my life away from me. That's all I ever did when I wasn't doing homework.

"Hey Eliza, Fratello! I have exciting news!" Feliciano said as he bounced over to Lovino and me before we could leave the school to go home.

"Yeah Feli?" I asked.

"Luddy has a cousin who just moved here and he's going to be our friend!" Feliciano exclaimed, clapping his hands.

"Oh no. Any one related to that potato bastard is no friend of mine." Lovino said.

"Come on Lovino. He can't be as bad as Gilbert. Give him a chance." I said.

"Please Lovi!" Feliciano said, giving Lovino the puppy dog face. I could see Lovino's resolve dissolve as he nodded. Feliciano jumped in the air and said "I'll go get him now!" as he ran into a classroom. Soon he returned with the kid that was getting pummeled yesterday.

"Isn't that?" Lovino asked.

"It is." I confirmed.

The moment he saw me, he turned around and walked away quickly. However, Feliciano was way too hyped up and caught him with ease. As he was dragging the poor kid towards us, I could hear him say "Now, now. They are friends. They are not mean, although Lovi will bite you on occasion." I suppressed a laugh and looked at Lovino, who had clearly heard what his brother had said. His eyes were big and I could see the usual features of annoyance take their place on his face.

"This is Lovino and that is Elizabeta." Feliciano said when he had finally dragged the kid over to us.

"Hey!" Lovino said, waving his hand.

"Hello! It's nice to meet you!" I said.

The kid was looking at the ground, desperately trying not to look me in the face. I could see bruises on his face from yesterday and a cut ran from just above his left eyebrow to just outside his eye.

"I'm Roderich." He mumbled with a slight German accent.

"Roderich, where are you from?" I asked.

"Austria." He replied, still not looking at me.

"No way! I'm from Hungary and that's right next to Austria"

Roderich looked up for the first time and I could see that his face was pretty beat up.

"Really?" he asked,

I nodded giving him a smile. He seemed to relax a little. I could see his cut more clearly now. It was pretty wide and deep, but not that long. I noticed that it was still bleeding a little bit, but not enough to need a band aid.

"How long has that been bleeding?" I asked, touching my eyebrow.

"Ever since I got it." He replied.

"That's not good. Here, I'll take you to my house and 'fix' it, per say."

Roderich gave a worried glance towards Feliciano.

"Don't worry; she's given herself stitches on multiple occasions." Feliciano said.

I nodded in agreement.

"Okay." Roderich said with some hesitation.

"Feli, we need to go or Grandpa will call the cops." Lovino said, walking towards the door, giving me a small wink. I rolled my eyes as Feliciano left with Lovino, waving back at us and giving me a sly smile.

"This way." I said as I shook off the Vargas brothers gestures.

I led Roderich to my car and drove to my house, hoping desperately that my parents wouldn't be home. Luckily they weren't.

I dropped my backpack off in the front hallway before taking Roderich to the kitchen where all the first aid stuff was. I started by washing out the wound, receiving a pained wince from Roderich.

"Sorry." I said.

"It's fine." He replied as I continued.

After I washed it out, I put on two of the tape things that hold the cut close together so the skin can heal easier.

"All done!" I said.

"Thanks." He replied, his cheeks slightly red.

"No problem! Do you need a ride home?" I asked.

He nodded his head. I grabbed my keys and headed out to the front door. Roderich stopped by the music room my parents had and peeked in.

"You play?" he asked.

"Me? No. My parents are musicians though. Do you?"

"Yeah. I play almost anything."

"You want to give the piano a whirl?" I asked.

He nodded excitedly. I smiled as I opened the door and let his enter. He sat down at the ebony grand piano. He placed his hands before starting. I recognized the song as Chopin's Concerto No. 1. I was thoroughly shocked that he could play with this much skill on a song that had taken my dad, who has played Chopin with some famous symphony, years to master.

I was startled when I heard clapping, and it wasn't me. Roderich stopped playing as I turned around and saw my dad standing in the door way. I'm pretty sure my face looked pretty mortified at that moment in time.

"That is very good." My father said.

"Thank you." Roderich replied.

"Dad, what are you doing? Don't you have a concert this weekend?" I asked.

"They let practice out early. The conductor was not feeling to hot." My dad replied.

"Well, thanks for stopping by, Roderich has to get home now." I said, grabbing Roderich's hand and bolting for the door.

"Wait! Roderich was it? Would like to come to my symphony's performance on Saturday?" my dad asked. I inwardly groaned as Roderich turned around and nodded his head yes.

"Fantastic! My daughter will take you. It starts at seven p.m. You two can work out when to meet."

I squeezed my eyes shut. I was going to have to go to this thing. Most of the time, they were extremely boring unless it was the nutcracker, then the dancers were onstage and made it fairly interesting.

"Thank you so much sir!" Roderich said as he turned to me in excitement. I gave a fake smile and tried to look really excited.

"No problem." my dad replied.

When we finally got in my car, Roderich talked non stop about it. I've never seen this guy so excited or happy. It was a nice side of him, but at the same time I really didn't want to go. Music wasn't my thing. I had tried just about everything out there, but I still sucked ass. I did enjoy listening to it, but most classical music just put me to sleep. I was more of an 80's rock person.

"Hey Elizabeta."

"You can just call me Eliza if you want to." I said.

"Okay. Eliza, do you actually want to go to the concert?" Roderich asked.

Shit. This guy was good. He saw right through me, and lets jus say that I'm pretty hard to read. I took a deep breath before saying "Not really."

"Well, you don't have to go." Roderich said.

"But I'm going to go anyways."

"Why?"

"Well, you seem really excited and my dad has been dying to get me to go to this one. Worst comes to worst I'll get a good nap out of it."

Roderich smiled.

"Are you and your dad close?" he asked.

"We were. But as he got more popular, he started working more. Same with my mom, but she does remixes of popular songs. It's kind of funny because they are polar opposite's music wise." I said.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Whatever. What about you?" I asked.

"Me? I don't have parents." He said. Roderich dropped his head, clearly trying to hide his tears, but it wasn't working. I couldn't take it. I pulled over and unbuckled my seat belt. Roderich looked confused. Before I could think about thinking, again, I gave Roderich a BIG hug. He just looked so lonely.

"Eliza?" he asked.

"I'm sorry about your parents." I replied. I could feel him hesitantly wrap his arms around me. I smiled. He needed that hug. See, I'm not mean all the time. Just most of the time.

When I let go of him, his face was bright red and he wouldn't look me in the eye.

"You looked like you need a hug." I said.

"Thanks, I did." He replied.

I smiled and we drove to Ludwig's house in a comfortable silence. I pulled up to the curb and dropped him off.

"Tell Gilbert to stop being an asshole please!" I said.

"I might. If I hear awesome one more time-"

"Call me. I'll kick his ass for you."

I handed Roderich a piece of paper with my phone number on it before I drove off.

…

"Lovino? Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked.

"Of course it is. Just come out!" Lovino griped.

"I'm sure you look fabulous!" Feliciano encouraged.

I let out a deep breath before I opened the door to my room and faced Lovino and Feliciano, who were right outside.

"Eliza, you look amazing!" Feliciano squealed.

"Of course she does. I came up with the outfit." Lovino said.

I looked down at my self. I was in a green dress that ended just above my knees and had quarter sleeves. My brown hair was down and straightened. I was wearing some mascara as well.

"Well we better get going before your date gets here." Lovino said.

"It's not a date!" I yelled.

Lovino snickered as he grabbed Feliciano and dashed out the door. I couldn't catch up because of the terrible shoes I was wearing. Whoever decided heels were a great idea, boy, were they wrong. I can't even stand in these without falling over.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and struggled to walk to the door. It must have taken me a full five minutes to get from the top of the stairs to the door. When I finally got there, I opened it. When I saw Roderich, I forgot completely about everything else. He was in a suit. A freaking suit with a bow tie and cuff links. I felt so underdressed.

"You look beautiful." Roderich said. His eyes widened when he had heard what he had said and I felt my face go red.

"Thanks. You look nice." I replied.

All of a sudden, I heard a voice say "Oh, get it!" I looked around Roderich to find Gilbert sitting there in his car. He must have dropped Roderich off.

"Gilbert I swear to god I'm going to shoot you!" I yelled. Roderich smiled a little bit when I said that.

"I'd like to see you try! I'm way too awesome to die!" Gilbert responded.

"We'll see about that!" I said, stomping into the direction of his car. Gilbert laughed and drove off before I could hit him. Luckily, he was gone when I tripped from wearing these blasted shoes and fell almost flat on my face. If it weren't for Roderich who caught me, I probably would have a broken nose now. Hold on. Roderich caught me? Holy shit! Roderich had an arm around my waist and his free hand was grabbing my wrist. I felt my face become uncomfortably red as Roderich helped me back to my feet. When I was finally standing, Roderich and I were just inches apart.

"Sorry." I said quickly before stepping away and walking over to my car. Roderich followed and slid into the passenger seat. I could tell this was going to be a long couple of hours.

When we finally arrived at the symphony hall and found a parking spot, I could see excitement rising up in Roderich. He was trying _really _hard to hide it, but I guess this whole music thing really gets him hyped up.

The symphony hall was probably one of the most spacious places I have ever been in. Crystal chandeliers hung on the ceiling and an elegant red carpet covered the ground. One the left and the right were two long, slightly spiraled stairwells that lead to the balconies. In between the stairs were large oak double doors that lead to the normal seats.

Roderich and I handed a person dressed in a uniform our tickets. He led us up the left stairs and to a balcony that was slightly in front of the stage, meaning that we could see everything clearly. My dad had clearly given us some top notch tickets there.

"Wow! This is amazing!" Roderich said, letting his excitement spill over.

"I know. How do they fit so many people on the stage?" I teased, knowing that wasn't what he meant.

"Not that. The seats! These are way better than what I could ever get. I can even see the bass's music!" Roderich said.

I laughed a little. He would be the only one I know who would really care about being able to the bass's music. In a way it's kind of…cute…

Suddenly the lights dimmed and the concert master walked on stage. We all clapped for him as he started playing his A string, the rest of the symphony joining in, making sure that they were in tune. Then the conductor came out and we all clapped again. When they finally decided to play, they started out with Waltz No. 2. I could feel my eyelids drooping and a wave of sleepiness wash over me. Before I knew it my eyes had close completely and my head dropped on something soft.

I was woken up by Roderich shaking me and whispering "Your dad is about to perform." I snapped my head up, which I now noticed had been on Roderich's shoulder, and rubbed sleep out of my eyes just in time to see my father walk on stage. Everyone clapped for him (myself included). He sat down at a piano that had probably been wheeled in front of the conductor while I was asleep (whoops). The minuet he started playing, I knew exactly what song it was. Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. If I had to have a favorite classical song, it would be this one. When I was little my dad and I would listen to it all the time and dance around the house. That was back when we were close.

"Moonlight Sonata." I whispered.

"Yes. That's right." Roderich said surprised. I smirked before sitting back and listening.

When my dad had finished the song (a full fifteen minuets later) the crowd clapped and stood up. I stood up too. My dad gave me a look saying "Not as bad as you thought." I gave him smile, hoping he could see it. Once everyone had stopped clapping and sat down, my dad exited.

As they began to play Hungarian Dance No. 5 I felt Roderich's hand slightly touch mine. I slowly interlocked our fingers, feeling my face grow red as I did so. Roderich squeezed my hand back, letting me relax a little bit. I felt myself scooting a little bit closer until our shoulders were practically touching. Before I even knew what I was doing, I rested my head on his shoulder, and this time I didn't fall asleep. Roderich hesitantly rested his head on mine. I smiled contently, becoming very cozy.

The concert ended all too quick, which would have been fabulous had I not been so cozy. Roderich and I stood up for one last standing ovation before we could leave. My dad said that he had to stay after for a while, so we could leave without him. Roderich and I had to fight throngs of people to get outside and to my car. Who knew that so many people like going to see the symphony? By the time we finally got in my car, we then had to fight the rush hour traffic. It took us an hour to get to my house, where Roderich and I were going to eat dinner before I dropped Roderich off.

I was practically starving by the time we got to my house. I probably should have eaten before hand, but I can't do anything except stuff my face now! Roderich looked at me a bit strange as I attacked the microwave Mac and Cheese I had made for us, but continued to eat at a more civil pace than I was. Once I had finished that in what I thought was a record time, I began devouring chip after chip out of the bag of potato chips I had left out as a side item.

"You seem hungry." Roderich said.

"No, I'm just trying to get fat." I replied with sarcasm evident in my voice. Roderich smiled at my joke and took another bite of his Mac and Cheese. When he had finished, he stood up. I assumed that he was ready to leave, so I started to go and get my car keys. He followed me and we were soon outside, but before we could get in the car, he stopped me.

"Elizabeta." He said.

"I told you, just call me Eliza." I replied.

"Eliza, I need to talk to you."

"Okay, shoot."

"Um, okay. So thanks for taking me to the symphony today it was great. It really was. Um, what I guess I'm trying to say is would y-you like to be my um, girlfriend."

Roderich's face was bright red and he refused to look at my face. I felt myself smile. He was so adorable right now. I really couldn't take it.

"Yes! Of course!" I squealed.

Roderich snapped his head up.

"Really?" he asked.

I gave him a hug, realizing that he was taller than me.

"Really." I replied.

He hugged me back. I could feel his warmth emanating throughout my body, giving me that cozy feeling I had felt earlier. All too soon Roderich pulled away, but not for long. He leaned down, his lips slowly growing closer to mine. I closed the gap and our lips met. It was only for a second, one electrifying second. When we pulled away, our faces stayed inches from each other. I smiled and Roderich smiled back.

…

"I called it!" Lovino yelled, throwing a victory dance in the middle of the hallway.

I laughed as Lovino busted out moves like the sprinkler and cabbage patch while Roderich just watched with confusion.

"Dancing! Yay!" Feliciano yelled, joining his brother.

"Are they all right?" Roderich asked.

"Eh, just the usual Vargas brothers." I said, smiling.

Roderich took my hand as we maneuvered around the dancing brothers so we could get to our class.


End file.
